Interviews

Halo 2: Setting the Mood

It's going to be weird if I do a jazz record, and Herbie Hancock walks in the place and I'll tell him to play something like [makes a funky, hornlike version of the main theme with his mouth]. And I'll just say, "Aww, f**k it." It's really difficult. You know, I could easily see other composers getting into it, but I hope they don't get into it thinking there's some sort of goldmine there, 'cause there's really not.

Most of the people who worked on it did it for love. I mean, I have no problem telling you that all of the bands who worked on Halo 2 did it for free. You don't want to say stuff like that, because then someone will turn around and say, "Aww, you got Incubus for free? Why did I have to pay half a million dollars for a song?"

I mean, to me, this is like Woodstock. When you got the phone call to come and play Woodstock, you didn't say, "Uhhh, yeah, man, well how much are we getting paid?" You just thought that the concept was cool, and to me, video games are like the Wild West. This is what rock 'n roll was to me. It was a bunch of people who were of a like mind, who had similar skill sets and talents, and they go out there and just start jamming, and we'd sit back and go, "Wow, what did we just create? Is this s**t cool or does it suck?"

If it sucked, we'd go back and do it again. But there's something inspirational about working in this landscape that, to me, is the same thing I felt when I was sitting on the edge of my bed, jamming and hoping that one I day I'd be playing at Madison Square Garden.